


Aggression

by Tinyomegapup



Series: To the Eye of the Beholder [2]
Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Drug Use, Lies, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Mystery, Non-Consensual Drug Use, affair, mild romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-20
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-16 07:25:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4616508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tinyomegapup/pseuds/Tinyomegapup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sebastian Castellanos is finally at a content point in his life. He is able to wake up in the morning to Ruvik, he's able to relax on a long vacation, and they're far from Krimson City and the stresses that it holds for the both of them in Ruvik's little vacation home. But through the bliss, Sebastian can sense something is wrong. There's a growing urgency in his relationship with Ruvik that he isn't understanding.</p><p>And the dull ache forming in his head is one to worry about, too.</p><p>On the other end of it, Joseph is on a desperate hunt to find his missing friend, to pick up the pieces and figure out what Ruvik was running from and try to put an end to the madness caused by what should have been an easy murder case. Whether he's able to be the hero he needs to be is the real question.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. All That I Can See

**Author's Note:**

> Hurray! I wanted to get the first chapter of Aggression out there, then I'm probably going to take a little break for a few days. That sounds fair, huh? Yeah, it does.
> 
> How did it go from Passive to this? To something... peaceful and nice? I guess you'll have to wait and find out! Hah, I'm a lazy writer who doesn't feel like getting into it! Thank you all for your support, seriously. I love it.

The room was nice and plush. It was something of a rich person, but someone who wanted privacy, the way it could barely be lit and even then the dimness caused drowsiness. Sebastian sat up, rubbing his head and looking around the room. He head a horrible headache, but that was growing to be a norm for him at this point. The sheets and blankets around him were so soft, he was still adjusting to living in such an environment. Normally he had one or two blankets, rarely anything of value, and had to make do with overwhelming heat or cold. This room was always comfortable.

Glancing over to the empty space of the bed, Sebastian let out a soft sigh. It was neat, as though there had been no life within the bed beside Sebastian the whole night. “Why does he keep doing that…”

Sliding out of bed, Sebastian reached down onto the floor and searched almost blindly in the dim light. He snatched up his pants, slipping into them. He noticed what looked to be his shirt, but he didn’t feel the need to put it on. Why would he? In such a private place, Sebastian felt comfortable walking around the house shirtless.

Descending the stairs, Sebastian went down a small hall, stopping just before it opened into a grand foyer and went into a kitchen. Slipping inside was easy, but trying to be quiet doing so was more difficult. The door squeaked around him, blowing his cover as he went inside. So much for surprising him.

Ruvik turned from the stove and gave Sebastian a soft smile. “Good morning,” he said, then his back was to Sebastian. The man looked like he had been up for hours now, fully dressed and working on something that smelled absolutely amazing to Sebastian. Ruvik wasn’t the greatest cook in town, but his meals were definitely satisfying.

“Good morning,” Sebastian muttered, walking over. His arms snaked around Ruvik’s waist and he pressed his face against the man’s shoulder, taking in a deep breath. He always smelled so clean, but he always felt cold. He didn’t like Ruvik feeling cold all the damn time, but he supposed there wasn’t much helping it right now. Glancing down at the food, he saw eggs being scrambled. “Eggs again?”

“Hey, you promised you would go to pick up more food from the grocer today,” Ruvik hummed, pressing back into Sebastian and smiling. “Until then, every morning we will have breakfast.”

“I like your pancakes.”

“You already ate all of them.”

“Then make more.”

“We don’t have any way to make more.”

Sebastian let out a sigh and pressed a small kiss to Ruvik’s cheek before pulling away. He stretched and leaned against the counter just beside the stove, looking at Ruvik curiously. “Why do you always get up so early?” he asked. “It gets annoying when you do that. When you just up and leave. I like being able to wake up, pull you close…”

Ruvik glanced over at him with an amused look on your face. “Don’t pretend like you weren’t doing that when we first met,” he said. “Or did you forget? Oh, I have to go into work. Oh right, Joseph and I are meeting up. There’s a call from Kidman I have to take, blah blah blah.”

Sebastian looked away, grumbling a little. “Okay, okay, fine,” he muttered. “But if this keeps happening it’ll definitely come up again. There’s only so many times you can get away with it, you know?”

“You love waking up to breakfast, don’t lie.”

“But I would love waking up to see my boyfriend beside me even more.”

Ruvik’s lips twitched into a smile that was rare for him. He was beaming, head ducking down to hide it as he cooked. Sebastian grinned, sliding closer and tilting Ruvik’s face up by his chin. “Well, well, well, look what we have here,” he purred. Ruvik slapped his hand away, cursing quietly. “I don’t usually get such a good smile from you. Special occasion or am I really just this charming?”

Ruvik kept quiet, putting the scrambled eggs on two plates and then getting toast ready. When it was all prepared, he handed Sebastian a plate and rolled his eyes. “You’re always charming,” he said. “Why else would I take a long vacation with you?” He walked over to the small kitchen table, relaxing into a chair and eating before Sebastian had enough time to follow.

The two ate in silence for a little while. Sebastian was lost in his food. He always loved Ruvik’s cooking, couldn’t get over the fact that Ruvik even knew how. Sebastian could cook a little bit, but he preferred using old recipe books that had little notes scribbled in. The people who owned them always knew the best, in his opinion. Still, Ruvik’s work was good. Very good indeed.

Something came to mind as they sat there, comfortable and quiet. Looking up, their eyes instantly met and Ruvik slowed his eating. “So um…” Sebastian felt embarrassed for talking about this subject. There wasn’t really a way to avoid it, though.

“I keep… seeing that shit. I saw it last night going to bed. I didn’t see any of it this morning yet, though. Will you be doing the treatment stuff again?” he asked. The treatments always hurt. They were annoying but he agreed with Ruvik when he said they were necessary. The hallucinations were getting much worse. The only calm he truly felt was near Ruvik. The man felt safe and good. But this morning he woke up alone and nothing bad happened. Hopefully that was a good sign that the treatments were working.

Ruvik watched Sebastian for a moment before deciding to speak. “We can do some treatments tonight,” he said. “You’re looking fairly lucid right now. Maybe you can go to the market and I’ll get it all ready for when you get back. Then you can rest for a few hours, then we can go to the beachside. I know you love it down there.”

Sebastian nodded a bit. It sounded like a good idea. Plus Sebastian was still trying to get Ruvik to go swimming with him. He hadn’t been so successful since they had gotten here. “So groceries,” he said. “Anything in particular you’re looking for, or our usual?”

Ruvik nodded over to a small paper pad on the counter. “I made up a list,” he said, then he looked over at Sebastian was a little glint of pride in his eyes. “I see our alcohol supply is dwindling very slowly. You’ve been holding yourself back this week.” He had only eaten half of his plate, but he seemed content as he stood. Going around the table, he pressed a kiss to Sebastian’s head. “I’m proud you’re getting over that again. Keep working on it and maybe we won’t have to go and keep buying more. Okay?”

Sebastian nodded, kissing Ruvik’s chin before the man stood up. “I’m doing my best.”

Ruvik was putting away his plate and tossing the eggs. It was always a shame to see Ruvik eat so little. He was always so thin, Sebastian kept insisting he try to put a little weight on so that they didn’t have to worry about health issues. At least Ruvik’s seizures were infrequent.

When the food was devoured, Sebastian went back upstairs and got showered and dressed. On a big vacation, Sebastian prefered to dress comfortably around the house, but going out he dressed more in the uniform of his work place. It was a silly habit, but as Sebastian buttoned his vest, he felt comfortable as he went. He tried to slick back his hair, but the one lock kept falling back onto his face, and it wouldn’t really stay together. He should maybe get a haircut.

“... Nah.”

Sebastian went downstairs and took up the list of groceries. Just usual ingredients, nothing really out of the ordinary on it. He kissed Ruvik’s cheek before he left the house and began to walk down the path.

The village wasn’t too far from Ruvik’s vacation house. Sebastian could easily have taken the car, but on nice mild days he always enjoyed walking more. And walks in the morning were always more refreshing to him then walks in the evening. There was a nice breeze coming in, and Sebastian felt calm. The treeline was always beautiful, morning light peeking through the leaves. He could really get used to this.

The path broke out to a small clearing, then a gate. It was opened and ready for him, and he walked into  a small square with a large statue of a beautiful angel. It always looked kind of sad to Sebastian, but he ignored it and went to the bustling market just around the square.

Many stands were up and running, people running about and calling to each other. Farmers trying to sell their vegetables, and selling them fairly well. Sebastian would have to be quick to get all the things on Ruvik’s list. Ruvik always got kind of annoyed if he couldn’t get everything that he wanted. So it was time to please the man and go down the list.

Thankfully these people were so kind. They all knew him by name now, though he was still learning theirs. A few he got sidetracked with and spoke to for quite a while. Eventually, though, he was bringing everything back that he needed. Not a single thing was missing from the list, and while the bags he carried were a little heavy, it was no problem bringing them back up the trail.

“I should have Ruvik come down here with me next time,” he muttered to himself. That seemed like a good idea. They were all very aware of who Ruvik was, but none of those people had really known him. Considering he rarely visited the summer manor as well, it would make sense. Maybe their lovely aristocrat should come and walk around the masses the next time the market was booming.

A dull ache came to Sebastian’s head about halfway up All he could think was “not now”. Looking around, everything around him seemed normal still. The trees were looking beautiful, the sun shining up above, nothing was on the food that would cause him to be alarmed. Turning his head to sweep his surroundings, he stopped in his tracks at the sight before him. Down the path, high above it, were hanging corpses. They looked like they had been there for weeks. No longer identifiable by face, rotting and maggot infested and disgusting. There wasn’t a stench that came from them, but Sebastian felt sick at the sight all the same. He had to tell Ruvik about it, even though he didn’t like the treatments. He knew they were necessary. He knew they would help.

When Sebastian returned, Ruvik was there to greet him in the foyer. There was a smile on the man’s face, small and thin, but when he saw the look in Sebastian’s eyes it dropped and he sighed. “Go bring the food to the kitchen, I’ll put it away in a minute,” he said. “Then go upstairs to the bedroom. I’ll be there waiting.”

Sebastian did as he was told, bringing the groceries to the kitchen before going upstairs and into the bedroom. Ruvik was standing there and holding a syringe of green liquid. Sebastian hated that stuff. It made him tired and usually he fell unconscious. Ruvik said it was just a side effect, but he didn’t really care. It was annoying. But he knew it would help, and he couldn’t deny help he so obviously needed.

It was a routine they were getting used to. Sebastian lied down on the bed and held out his arm. Little time was wasted for Ruvik, who, after a moment of making sure Sebastian’s arm was cleaned, pushed the needle into his body and injected the fluid. “Just give it a few minutes,” Ruvik whispered, his cold lips against Sebastian’s forehead. “Let it do its job.”

Sebastian’s eyelids felt heavy. He tried to reach for Ruvik’s hand to hold.

**His hand fell limp as he was pulled under.**


	2. A Trail I Can't Resist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay another chapter! I was so burnt out after working hard on Passive, then already starting this up. I think I'm fresh and excited to start working on Aggression this week. I hope you're all enjoying it so far.
> 
> If you have any feedback totally share. I loved seeing all the comments in Passive, I hope that people can let me know what they think about Aggression too.

Ruvik always had a time of day that he spent on his own, somewhere down in the basement. Sebastian never had access to it, but that was okay. During times that Ruben was down there, it was always clear the man needed alone time, and Sebastian had never wanted to get in the way of the man when he wants alone time. During those times, Sebastian would find himself wandering around outside. There were many paths that he could walk on, all of which were free for him to use. A few wandered close by the cliffside, and Ruvik didn’t like him going near there for fear that Sebastian could fall. And typically Sebastian would listen to his request of avoiding those trails. Some days he wandered close by, but never once had he dared to get on those paths. The closer they got to the rocky fall, the more aware he was that his life could end in flash.

He didn’t want to leave everything he knew and loved just like that.

Today he was feeling a little adventurous though. One of the trails led pretty close to the edge, only a few trees and occasionally an old rotting fence blocking him from falling. Though they probably would have done nothing to help if he did lose his footing. He kept a hand on the trees on the opposite side of the path as he walked, looking over at the horizon and at the water. It was beautiful, and peaceful, and he understood why Ruvik wanted to have a home here. Maybe not one to live in all the time, Sebastian didn’t know if he would enjoy it there as much during the winter time, but any other season and he just knew it was gorgeous.

“You should have done this sooner.”

He had known Ruvik for years and they had never vacationed until this point in time. It was strange to hear Ruvik tell him that. He didn’t remember when he met Ruvik, the story of it almost sounded foreign to him. But it had been during the time that he was drinking more, so he wouldn’t have been surprised if he was blackout drunk during their first few times meetings. Everything else seemed to fit just fine, but it was all a blur, a mess of jumbled memories, and boy was it a thrill. Being here with Ruvik now was exactly what he needed. All the times he probably could have taken off and didn’t… It was a nice change of pace he didn’t even realize he needed.

His thoughts were interrupted by yelling. Stopping in his tracks, Sebastian looked around. Someone sounded to be in pain. Strange, there was nobody from the village who ever wandered around here, and nobody from the beach below would be audible from so high up. He looked through the trees, trying to find the source of the cries, and it came again, and turning his head, he was looking at the edge of the cliff. “Shit did someone fall?”

Careful and holding onto the branch of a tree, Sebastian edged over to the cliff and looked down. He looked all over the rock face, and a scream came again, but Sebastian couldn’t pinpoint where. It sounded so close, and it was definitely coming from not far below. There were no spots that were obscured by rock as far as Sebastian was aware. “Hey! Anyone down there?”

He was met with silence, and he felt a discomfort in his stomach. Was he hallucinating again? There was nobody there, but… He had only ever seen things. Sebastian had never smelled or heard anything. There was never that kind of a hallucination. Nothing like that at all. Was it getting worse?

“Where’s Ruvik…” Sebastian turned on the path and began to walk back to the manor, hands shaking at his sides. This wasn’t happening, he was just injected! Hallucinations never came back that fast after an injection, they were usually gone for a couple of days. It had been going on for quite a while, but…

The manor came into view, but Sebastian didn’t feel the need to sprint there. Ruvik was likely still in the basement and working on his research and personal projects. He would have to wait to ask for another injection until he knew that Ruvik was finished. He wasn’t sure if waiting for an injection for a while would make things worse, or if it would get better on its own. Still, he was hoping that Ruvik would be finished with his research sooner than later.

Sebastian camped out in one of the small lounges right by the foyer. It was cozy and dim and nice, and Sebastian paced around the room as he was waiting for a sign that Ruvik was done. He felt his nerves jumping. That scream was so vivid, so real, but there was nowhere it could have come from. Where could the source have been? It seemed so real…

Every hallucination seemed so real, Sebastian knew that. They were hallucinations for a reason. But during this one he felt lucid. All other times he had been somewhat aware of signs that meant something was going to happen. Were they getting so bad that he couldn’t even tell anymore? A headache began to build up in his head. This was frustrating.

“Sebastian?”

Ruvik stood in the doorway, worry in his eyes, though his overall expression was the usual blank look that he had. He approached Sebastian the moment the detective stopped his pacing, a hand moving up and running along Sebastian’s cheek. Sebastian leaned into it, taking a deep breath. “I’m having hallucinations again I think,” Sebastian murmured, looking into Ruvik’s eyes.

Ruvik’s expression went from blank to surprised. “This soon?” he asked. “That’s sure strange. Are you sure? What happened?”

Sebastian shrugged a little, sighing gently. “I was taking a walk and I took one of the cliff paths. Everything was going fine, until I heard a scream and-”

“Sebastian.” Ruvik’s voice was cold, interrupting the man as they stared each other down. “What were you doing by there? It’s dangerous on those paths, I told you.” His hand fell from Sebastian’s face and he backed up, shaking his head. “You were by the cliff and you heard a scream. Did anything else happen? Where was the scream from? Did you see anything?”

There was little Sebastian could do to stop Ruvik from growing angry with him. Ruvik was turning away from him and he began to feel angry. If he had just gone on one of the usual paths none of this would have happened, or at least Ruvik wouldn’t be angry with him. When Ruvik was angry with him it always ended up being a rough few days. Years of being with the man made it obvious to him when he messed up.

“I didn’t see anything or hear anything further. Just the screams, that was all.”

They stood there in silence for a while, Sebastian watching Ruvik as the man was making up his mind on what to do. Sebastian wasn’t sure if another injection so soon would be damaging. He figured that was what Ruvik was thinking about. They stood there for some time before Ruvik decided to speak.

“You don’t need an injection,” Ruvik said. “If nothing else happened, the screams were all, then you should be fine. Just let me know if anything else comes up.” Before Sebastian could say anything, Ruvik left the room, leaving Sebastian alone to feel guilt.

Sitting down in one of the plush chairs, Sebastian sighed and put his head in his hands. “Why did you have to do that…” He felt disappointed in himself. Ruvik had very few wishes and demands of him. They were always crystal clear and reasonable, and following them was typically a breeze. Try to drink less, but no pressure. No smoking in the house. Don’t interrupt research time. Make sure to get groceries and to do your share of cleaning. Don’t call work - don’t stress yourself out when you’re on vacation. Make sure you let Ruvik know where you’re going if you’re going out - don’t worry him otherwise. Don’t take dangerous paths in the forest because sometimes they could end up being fatal should an accident happen.

Sitting there in regret, Sebastian let out a final sigh and began to stand. There wasn’t any use in sulking over it. “Go and grovel and he’ll calm down,” he muttered to himself.

After a few steps, Sebastian’s vision went black, though he was still conscious.

Images filled his head as he leaned on the wall.

A scalpel.

Blood.

Barbed wire…

Wrapping up bodies.

Before he can process what he sees, the vision is gone.

He was standing in the lounge.

**He was safe.**


	3. What a Mess He Made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a little while! I just started my classes and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be way more busy right away. I promise to try to find some time to do some writing though. I hope this chapter is okay, I'm really tired and I think I kind of half-assed it even more than usual so.... Yeah.

The basement was a complete nightmare. Joseph Oda felt sick as he descended into it again. He didn’t want to go back there, but there wasn’t much helping it. Everything was moving so fast, he had to find answers, any clues as to where Ruben had gone. As to where Sebastian was. He had no doubt that Ruben had done something to kidnap Sebastian. The note was clear in his head when he was looking for Sebastian just weeks before. Ruben needed Sebastian for something, there was no way he would just kill him.

The basement was dim, and Joseph wanted to throw up. The gore that was around the room was almost too much for him to handle, he could barely stand it as he walked about. The bodies that were strewn about, the shelving of organs, and the whole pile of things dedicated to Sebastian. Juli Kidman had come down here multiple times and searched through the place. She had taken some things back to the depo, and Joseph had gone through those as well. But he wanted to come to the source of the hell, the reason this whole mess was happening.

Four doctors ended up murdered over this. What was the point? Joseph remembered the note that had been left behind saything “they will kill me”. Who was “they”? Why were they after Ruben? Did he kill the first three doctors before or after they planned on killing him?

The shelves were full of jars, each carrying some form of an organ. Each were carefully labelled, none of the names Joseph recognized, but they all sounded familiar. Looking through them, he settled on a name that bore no personal significance, watching intestines sit in an odd formation within the jar before it hit him.

“Are these all the missing persons cases?”

He would have to double check, but while many of these names weren’t significant personally, Joseph began to feel certain that these were the names of people who had since gone missing even over a matter of a few years. There was disgust writhing in his stomach, and his eyes settled on a particular jar of innards. “M. Jimenez…” Joseph sighed. He remembered when the reports that Doctor Jimenez had been gutted came in. The one man who had been a hope for them at the time to possibly get some answers. Now here the remains were, sitting in a little jar, the only proof that Ruvik had committed the murder on the good doctor. Joseph looked away from it and went to one of the desks littered with papers. Looking through them, many of the notes seemed incomplete and random. Joseph wondered if Juli would have collected certain pages only. But the notes seemed to have continued from other pages, it wouldn’t make sense if it was simply Juli looking through. She would have grabbed the complete ones.

“Ruvik took things with him…” There was no way of confirming the idea, but Joseph knew it in his head to be true. It was obvious something was going on, and it would make sense for Ruvik to take valuable notes with him when he was on the run. “I wonder what they were about.” The notes that remained were strange and foreign in their concept to Joseph. He knew a little bit about scientific ideas and works, but these weren’t anything like he had known previously.

Just beside the pile of papers, Joseph noticed a few recordings. He reached over and pressed play to them, and Ruvik’s voice came up, cold and indifferent. He was talking almost boredly of the experiments he was working on, referring to each individual as a test subject. It seemed to go on and on until each one would abruptly cut off and Joseph would start the next one. They began to bore him, sounding general and vague and uninteresting, until one of the recordings he clicked changed from the icy cold tone to one of fiery rage.

“How dare they reject me,” Ruvik’s voice caused Joseph to jump. He could almost feel the hate coming off of the recording. “They use my ideas and force me to help them and then when I ask for one thing in return they just take it away from me! I am not  their little pet to use when they want and then cage for later use! Those horrible men will pay… Marcelo says to let them be, but I have to send a message… I don’t care what he consequences are, I refuse to let them make a fool of me any longer!”

Joseph felt a chill down his spine as he listened to Ruvik rage on and on about the murdered doctors. He wondered if Juli had listened to these, or if she even noticed that there were recordings in the first place. He felt discomfort in his body, thankful when the recording finally ended and the room grew silent. There was another, and when he clicked it, there was only more anger, but this time it was calm and eerie.

“Marcelo knows too much. I know that he was aware that I had killed the doctors, but it seemed he pulled too much out of Leslie, found out too many things. He knows what I plan to do further. I can’t put the blame on him anymore, I have to do something about this. He cannot use Leslie to expose me. No matter how much he tries to feed to Leslie, to get Leslie to talk, the boy won’t… I have to put a muzzle around Marcelo’s mouth. I have to silence him. If not with threats, then possibly by death. I wish it would go different but… That isn’t going to be the case, I realize. I’m sorry Marcelo. This is the only way to make things right.”

Joseph shook his head as the recording fell silent. “This is horrible…” He turned and began to go upstairs, pulling out his phone as he did. Dialing quick, Juli answered almost as soon as Joseph put his phone to his ear. “How is everything over there?” her voice asked before Joseph could even speak.

“It just keeps getting worse,” he answered. “There’s still nothing about where they could have gone, and I’m running out of ideas.”

“There has to be something in that place that can tell us where they are. There’s one thing that Ruvik had to have left behind for sure, some kind of clue. How could someone be this good at covering up their tracks? This doesn’t make any sense, Joseph.”

“There has to be something left here, I know. We just haven’t found it yet.”

“Why don’t we ask Gutierrez?”

This had become a sore topic. The woman had known things about the murder case that nobody would have known if they weren’t involved or at least an eye witness. Her vagueness cost them their partner, and the two were getting desperate and still Tatiana wasn’t answering their questions.   
“I don’t think she was involved with this, Kidman.”

“She knew damn near everything that was going on, Joseph,” Juli replied. “And she withheld information from us intentionally. Now Sebastian is missing and we have a killer on the loose, how the hell are you supposing we justify her timidity?”

Joseph shook his head. It was taking a toll on the both of them, but he wasn’t ready to just label Tatiana as an accomplice and arrest her. “Do you remember what Seb said, about her being uncomfortable and even walking away at the explicit mention of Ruvik? There wasn’t anything good there between them, she could have kept private out of fear. We don’t know, we can’t just claim she helped the bastard and try to lock her up. It’s wrong and you know it.”

Juli fell silent for a moment on her end, then a small sigh came from her. “Fine,” she muttered, “But if I find even a small reason to doubt her credibility, she’s going in for questioning at least. I’m sick of going down into her territory to ask questions, I want to make her squirm a little.”

Joseph shook his head. “Be gentle, okay?”

“Whatever you say.”

Joseph headed out to his car and drove back to the police depo. When he arrived, an officer intercepted him on the way upstairs with a stack of papers. Joseph felt sick looking at them. He never thought he would have to ever order and print out these. Now he was going to put them up, and he felt like it was almost the end of the world.

**MISSING: Sebastian Castellanos**


	4. Missing and Wanted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh multiple chapters in one day? I literally have a few hours to do nothing so don't be surprised if another chapter or two comes out today. I'm a busy bee but I manage find hours of free time, so here we go!

The trail was widening out to give way to street as Sebastian made his way to town. The air was getting cooler, and he felt good. It had been a few days since he had a hallucination, and things were beginning to look up in regards to that aspect. And it was rare that he would venture to town without much of a reason, and it was one of the few times that he figured he should do something like that, visit and maybe get something to eat and spend some time with them as he was staying there for quite some time now. Getting a sense of the people, being friendly and nice and open with them would be an amusing and interesting thing to do now and again.

The gates were closed, but it was easy for Sebastian to open them up and get inside. There weren’t many people out and about today, but that was common. Most people stayed in their homes when the market wasn’t taking place. He could expect something like this. But the few bustling about, they all seemed to be in a bit of a hurry to get somewhere. He wandered by them, glancing around to see all of the activities, and found himself wandering over to the leftovers of the marketplace. They always left the stands up, and if there were things that the owners left behind, it was often because they didn’t want it and the items became pickings for whoever saw it first.

Sebastian went over to the newspaper sections. Normally they had old news, stuff from days ago. It seemed the little town often got overlooked for keeping up to date, but something to read was better than nothing. They had newspapers from multiple different cities, but Sebastian always went for the Krimson Post. They were very old additions, but Sebastian found it amusing to read the old news. It was almost nostalgic.

He was surprised when he picked up an up to date newspaper. “Strange, they never have these.” It was good though, he could see what was going on in his city. He began to flip through it there, most of the news things that either bored him or didn’t surprise him in the slightest. When he got to the back though, he froze.

“Missing… Sebastian Castellanos…?” He recognized the photo of himself. It was from the last police department Christmas party. Juli had taken it. A bit of Joseph’s arm was visible around his shoulder. Why was he missing? He was on vacation for god’s sake, why was he in the latest news as missing?

Sebastian folded the newspaper quickly. He found himself not wanting to be in the town anymore. When he turned, he took a moment to watch the people around him. Everything suddenly felt strange. Nobody was even looking at him, people who passed him suddenly looked almost ghostly. What was going on? It was like they were all zombies… He wondered if he was just realizing things for the first time.

He had to go talk to Ruvik about all this.

Sebastian began to make his way back up the street to the gates. Everything suddenly felt wrong. And the scream he heard, was that real? “You’re freaking out about this,” Sebastian muttered to himself as he went through the gate. “Just calm down, you can handle it… You don’t want to put Ruvik on edge, just try to talk to him like normal, then find a way to sneak it into the conversation.”

What if Ruvik took it poorly? He wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with Ruvik’s anger, not over something like this. Maybe he could just call Joseph? That sounded like a much better option in itself, and as he began to walk the path, he felt that would be the best decision in his gut.

What would he do if Joseph answered? Sebastian felt worried and confused. Would he ask Joseph why there are missing posters of him up? “Maybe it was just a mistake.”

Joseph wouldn’t make a mistake as crazy as that, he knew better.

“Did I not tell you I’m on vacation?” he muttered to himself. It all sounded stupid. “Fuck… Just…. What’s going on?” He wanted answers, and he knew the only person who would give him that would be Joseph.

The manor came into view, and Sebastian quickly scaled the steps and let himself into the foyer. Ruvik was out in another room, likely relaxing or reading or writing some of his notes, his usual relaxation habits. Sebastian knew there was a phone located in the lounge, and one upstairs in Ruvik’s study. He could only hope that Ruvik wasn’t present as he walked into the lounge. When he entered it, he was thankful to find himself alone in there as he went to the phone. Picking it up, he hesitated. What if this really was a mistake? What if he called work and Joseph said everything was fine, it was just an accident, and then Ruvik would be annoyed with him for obsessing over work as he always accused? He wasn’t sure what the better answer would be.

Just as Sebastian had the resolve to call Joseph and even began to dial a few numbers, the door to the lounge opened and Ruvik walked in. He seemed at ease, a little bit of a smile on his face. He seemed to have forgotten that Sebastian had ignored his rule about he trails near the cliff, but he stopped dead seeing a phone in his hand. “What are you doing?”

Sebastian set the phone down immediately. He felt like he was caught doing something wrong. Well, in Ruvik’s eyes, it was something wrong, and the accusing look on his face caused guilt to flow into Sebastian’s chest. “I was just going to call Joseph and check in.”

“I told you about work,” Ruvik said. He looked angry, taking a step forward. Sebastian was tempted to take a step back, surprised by Ruvik’s vocal anger. “You work so much, you almost kill yourself over it, risking your life and ruining your health with it. I want to take a simple vacation where you avoid work at all costs just to keep us happy and you want to ruin that by calling? I haven’t called any of my colleagues, even though I enjoy discussing notes and research with them. How is this fair, Sebastian? Tell me how it’s fair.”

Sebastian fell silent, not meeting Ruvik’s harsh gaze. “I wanted to ask about something,” he said. “It’s important, okay?”

“How is it so important you would rather go to him than to me, your boyfriend?”

Sebastian raised up the newspaper, making sure he could see Ruvik’s expression as he showed off the missing persons section. “What’s this about, then? Why am I a missing person if we’re on vacation?” he asked. His voice grew just as harsh as Ruvik’s, and they stared each other down. Anger and offense burned in Ruvik’s eyes, but Sebastian fought it by showing off his own anger. He would not let Ruvik guilt him into being quiet, not this time, not about this.

“You… Why would I have any idea why you were on there?” Ruvik tried to play innocent, but Sebastian was growing used to Ruvik’s avoiding statements. “It was likely just a misprint.”

“A misprint with all of my information on it?” he asked. “This is a detailed description of me. How could they have messed up this badly?”

“Stop.”

Ruvik’s voice was so harsh that Sebastian faltered. He took a step back. There was something ugly in Ruvik’s eyes, something he never saw before in those eyes. Or… or did he? It seemed familiar somehow. Why was it familiar?

Ruvik took a sudden step forward, reaching out and grabbing Sebastian by the wrist. His grip was like iron, and Sebastian made a noise as he began to try to pull away. It was almost terrifying, having Ruvik react like this. He tried to pull his arm away, but found that Ruvik’s grasp was stronger than he remembered. What the hell was going on?

There was a syringe in Ruvik’s hands. “Ruvik what the hell?” Sebastian tried to tear away his arm. It was full of the strange green liquid that Ruvik would use for his treatments. “Ruvik wait! Stop! I’m fine, I don’t need an injection! What the hell are you doing?”

Ruvik plunged the syringe into his arm, injecting the liquid into Sebastian. The detective jerked back as Ruvik let go of him, holding his arm and looking at Ruvik with shock. He felt violated, and then his vision began to turn dark as he stood there. “Ruvik.. wh…” He collapsed, falling unconscious.

Sebastian woke not too long after the incident, drowsy and vision somewhat blurry as he looked around, raising his head up. He wasn’t in the lounge, it was so much darker than that.  He felt himself sitting, though his body was still groggy from the effects of the injection. As his vision began to clear, he looked down and found himself bound in barbed wire to a chair. His vision was continuing to clear, and he looked around the room a moment longer before he began to see clearly.

The room was full of gore. Bodies all over the floor, decaying and stinking of feces and rot. There was blood all over the stone walls, and many machines and saws and the like were drenched in the red ooze, waiting for their next victims. Where the hell was this? Where was Ruvik?

As if to answer one of those questions, Ruvik came into view. He was pushing a table along. It had a medical kit and a jar of the green liquid sitting on it. It wasn’t just any injection. He was getting his treatments.

“Is this… the…”

Ruvik looked up, meeting Sebastian’s gaze and then he smiled. Walking over, Ruvik bent and kissed Sebastian on the forehead.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered.

Sebastian closed his eyes as Ruvik turned to prepare the medical things.

**“This will only hurt a bit.”**


	5. A Figure in the Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoooooaaaaahhhhhhhh another oooooone?
> 
> Also this is technically a smutty chapter just... not quite what was expected.

Sebastian felt dizzy.

He wasn’t sure if it was something to do with the mental health problems he was dealing with…

Or how Ruvik was straddling his waist and grinding down against him.

It had been a while for them since they last had sex. Ruvik was being oddly aggressive as he got Sebastian out of his shirt, and even removed his own. Sebastian’s hands were on Ruvik’s waist, encouraging him to keep grinding down. He made little hissing sounds of pleasure, Ruvik making small whining sounds above him. Hell, it had been a while, and yet Sebastian was having a hard time appreciating it, what with his head throbbing. Still, it was hard to get Ruvik in the mood, he couldn’t pass this up because he was feeling lightheaded and even in a bit of pain.

Ruvik began to undo his belt, smirking down at Sebastian as he pulled off his trousers. Even with the burns, Ruvik was incredibly attractive, sitting there naked on top of Sebastian. The detective’s hands began to travel over Ruvik’s legs and bare skin, Ruvik’s eyes closing and breathing heavily as he began to undo Sebastian’s pants. The two quickly became naked, lying in bed there, Ruvik’s hand feeling Sebastian’s length and smirking when Sebastian cursed and took deep breaths.

“Sebastian,” Ruvik whimpered, and he looked down at the man. He slowed his motions, a frown forming on his face. “Are you okay? Do you not want to…?”

“No I want to,” Sebastian said quickly. He felt embarrassed that Ruvik could read him so well. “It’s fine… Don’t worry, okay?” His hands continued to run over Ruvik, and one slid back to his ass.

Everything was a bit of a blur. Sebastian was a little lost as Ruvik continued to make progress, and after a moment he found himself enveloped in heat and he groaned. When did Ruvik prep himself? He always loved watching when Ruvik decided to prep himself, missing it was such a shame. He didn’t realize he was this out of sorts, groaning as Ruvik began to ride him. The moving, flexing, tight heat was amazing, he felt warmth and arousal in his body. “Yeah… fuck… like that, just like that…”

The feeling of his head changed from lightheadedness to pain. It began to hurt, and Ruvik riding him was causing his head to feel a mixture of pain and pleasure that was conflicting. Ruvik’s moans and cries were arousing as well, but he found himself almost unable to hear them. Ruvik seemed to be enjoying himself, though, the way he was looking down at Sebastian and moving his hands down and rubbing the detective’s chest. He whispered things to Sebastian, but he couldn’t hear them, and he just held onto Ruvik’s hips tight and guided him to keep riding.

All these sensations were getting to be too much to handle. Thankfully, the pleasure was beginning to rush down to his groin as Ruvik rode harder, and he could see that Ruvik was being overwhelmed by the pleasure he was feeling. The noises Ruvik was making broke through, and Sebastian could hear him clearly.

“Sebastian… Seb… ah…!”

It was incredibly attractive, and Sebastian took control. Trying not to tighten his grip any further, Sebastian began to buck up into Ruvik, who gasped and arched his back and moaned loud, eyes closing and body shaking. Sebastian thrusted up a few times before he began to feel his climax come. He was about to gasp to Ruvik that he was about to come when Ruvik suddenly groaned and came, slumped down against Sebastian now. A few weak thrusts and Sebastian came, panting and pulling Ruvik close to his chest as they lied there.

His head was still swimming. He felt drowsy and in need of sleep, and Ruvik rolled off of his chest to lie beside him, body still pressed against him and resting quietly on him. “I love you…” his words were soft, barely audible to Sebastian, who mumbled them back once his head was able to process his words. He could feel Ruvik fall asleep beside him and he let out a deep sigh. Ruvik always fell asleep last on normal nights. When they had sex he was completely drained and would fall asleep right then and there.

Sebastian felt as though his head was going to burst, though. There was no way that he could just lay there and fall asleep with the pain searing through his skull. He slipped away from Ruvik, getting up out of bed. Some medicine was over in the bathroom, he could just quick go get some and come back right away. That was the plan as he slipped out of the room and down the hall.

Arriving at the bathroom, Sebastian went to the sink quickly. He found the medicine in the cabinet, taking a few of the pills and swallowing them down. He washed his face with cold water, shaking his head a little to try to clear it. The pain was still incredible, he felt overwhelmed by it. His hands were shaking, and he felt stuck as he stood there and tried to ease himself. When he found that he was unable to do so, Sebastian just shook his head and began to walk out of the bathroom.

The hallway was total darkness. It was a little intimidating, his head throbbing and hardly being able to see. Looking down the hall, Sebastian felt a moment of fear. There was something standing there, clear to him. Or was it really clear? He wasn’t sure, but it looked like someone was standing there. It wasn’t a small frame like Ruvik’s. It was a massive person, standing there and obviously watching him as Sebastian stood in the light of the bathroom.

The figure began to advance on him. It took a few steps, still covered by the darkness of the hallway, and Sebastian quickly moved back into the hallway and closed the door. He backed up, bumping into the sink, and watched the door. There was the sound of footsteps, and they seemed to stop right in front of the doorway. There wasn’t a knock, or a jiggle of the handle. The thing in the hallway seemed to just be standing there, as if waiting for passage or for Sebastian to open the door and to seize up the detective and take him away to wherever its lair was. Or something along those lines. Sebastian refused to near the door, waiting for signs that the great big thing had left. There were no footsteps to indicate that it had walked away. He wasn’t even sure if it was still there.

There was no way he was taking the risk.

Sebastian took a seat on the floor, watching the door, feeling suspicion in his body. He couldn’t let his guard down, what if that thing got in here and killed him? He couldn’t risk it, not ever.

It hadn’t felt like long, but Sebastian had grown tired, and there was light on the other side of the door, just through the crack at the bottom. Sebastian continued to watch, feeling exhausted. But he had only been waiting for just a few minutes. There was no way that…

“Sebastian?”

Ruvik opened the door, his head poking in. His eyes grew wide at the sight of Sebastian sitting there in the corner, and Sebastian wondered for a moment if Ruvik was okay. “Did it hurt you?” he asked before Ruvik even had time to enter the bathroom.

Ruvik took a step in, head tilting and looking concerned. “What are you talking about?” he asked. “Sebastian, have you been in here all night?”

Sebastian shrugged a little where he sat. “It didn’t feel like it was very long,” he muttered. “I just didn’t want it to kill me.”

“You didn’t want what to kill you?” Ruvik approached, crouching down and touching Sebastian’s cheek with his hand. “What was out here, Seb? I didn’t see anything this morning. Did something get in the house?”

Sebastian just began to shake his head. How could he answer these questions? He had no idea. He felt lost and confused and upset. This was a mess. What could be possibly say to Ruvik? There was something there, he knew there was, but he had no idea what it was.

After a moment, understanding began to hit him. There wasn’t anything there. He thought there was. This wasn’t normal, he had seen something again. Ruvik seemed to be worried, trying to get a good answer out of Sebastian, but the man realized he really didn’t have a good answer to give to Ruvik at all.

“Sebastian, were you hallucinating?”

The question instantly caused Sebastian to nod. There was no other way to describe it. That thing, whatever it was, wasn’t even real, and it had convinced him so strongly that it was there that he had holed himself up in the bathroom the entire night. Now he felt sick with regret. He wasted so much time over something that wasn’t even real.

“Sebastian, do you think you’re going to want an injection to calm this down?” Ruvik’s voice was soft. “This is your call.”

Sebastian nodded again. He wanted this fear to end. Whatever was going on in his head, he wanted it to stop, and he knew that Ruvik would do anything to help those things go away. He just hoped it would work quicker than it usually did.

Ruvik nodded a moment and stood up. He left he room, only to come back quickly with a syringe in hand. Sebastian held his arm out to Ruvik, who took his hand and carefully pressed the needle into Sebastian’s skin.

Sebastian was once again injected with the strange medicine.

**He fell unconscious.**


	6. Can I Tell You This

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh yes another chapter!!
> 
> Just to let you all know, I might take a little more time to work on this than usual. Not even because of my classes. I'm just having some issues with writing and having things coming out right from the way I designed it, so I'm gonna be taking my time with it as much as possible. This might also mean breaks for like a week or two of just no writing at all because my head needs a break and time to relax. I hope that's okay. If you have a problem with it, well then, tough luck, I'm trying to get better with my mental health.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. ;w; It was kind of hard to write but I think I did an okay job. A special declaration happens, I hope people liked that much. It must be a little conflicting to see Sebastian and Ruvik seeming so good when you have an idea of what's happening to Sebastian when his brain turns to shit though.

Ruvik’s head rested on Sebastian’s chest as they relaxed in the lounge. One of Sebastian’s arms was looped around Ruvik’s shoulders, a book balanced on his knee, and Ruvik was looking through some papers with glasses perched on his nose and a pen in hand, making corrections, adding to it, and generally looking it over. The two men did this often - resting and relaxing and sitting in peaceful silence, but Sebastian had noticed that Ruvik had been keeping a closer eye on him since the incident in the bathroom. Ruvik’s greeting him always involved him asking if Sebastian was okay and holding up fine, and it definitely wasn’t going unnoticed. Still, it wasn’t a wise decision to be mentioning it. Ruvik had a right to worry, to ask questions, to inquire about Sebastian’s mental health. He wasn’t about to turn that away.

Sebastian glanced down at what Ruvik was working on. There were notes that he figured must have been about the brain. He remembered studying some of that in high school, but it wasn’t much anything he could fully remember. Still, Ruvik seemed so passionate about the human body, especially the mind and all of its secrets. It was a little boring to the detective, but knowing that Ruvik was interested was a curious thing made Sebastian want to ask about it.

“So what’s all that stuff about?” he asked. It was casual and curious, and Ruvik looked up and their eyes met as they rested there. “All your notes stuff. Is this some private stuff you’re working on, or is it nothing in particular?”

Ruvik just shrugged, looking down at his work and then letting out a sigh. “Nothing really special,” he said. He took off his glasses, then looked up at Sebastian again. His rested his head comfortably against him, eyes blank and absentmindedly staring at Sebastian’s neck. He closed his eyes then and hummed in thought. “I just have to figure out some general details about the brain before I continue my next project. And I hope that I will be successful in those endeavors.”

“Well what are all your projects for?” That was a genuine question. Sebastian had never found a good time to ask something like that. Now he felt good about asking a question about the projects, and hoping that he would get a good answer from Ruvik about why he was spend so much time in the basement during those projects.

“Well, I want to know more, to understand more,” Ruvik answered. “The mind is so complex and strange, and I want to see how much of it I can learn. I will never learn enough, most likely, but the more I try, the more likely I am than others who don’t try so hard. Maybe I’ll be able to unlock some of the secrets many are still trying to learn. I have already learned a few things, but without some of the bigger puzzle, they are miniscule and not ready to be shown to the world. I couldn’t answer a single question about them until I make a true understanding of the secrets of the human consciousness.”

Sebastian listened to Ruvik’s answer with thought. It was nice to know that Ruvik had some ambition, a drive to learn and work on these projects. He wasn’t sure if these were necessarily the most productive things for Ruvik to be doing, at least in terms of income, but he figured that Ruvik was a rich guy anyway, he had other means of making a living.

“I think that if I can figure out a few details of the mind further, I can help your hallucinations to go away faster,” Ruvik added. “Would that be nice?”

That was some good news to hear. The process for removing hallucinations seemed to be taking forever, and he sometimes felt like they were just getting worse. But knowing that Ruvik was close to finding a way to get rid of them much faster than their current progress, how could he pass that up?

Images flashed in his head, as they had many days ago. There were three men, slaughtered and bloody, wrapped up in barbed wire, and it filled Sebastian’s vision. It was frightening, and he flinched a little. Ruvik glanced up, but didn’t seem to think much of it, as he continued to nestle against Sebastian and rest there.

The question burned in Sebastian’s throat when he remembered those images. What did they mean? Did Ruvik do that? Why was he seeing images like that? What did they mean? For a moment Sebastian figured he should just ask Ruvik, try to get it out of the way. But lately he was realizing that Ruvik wasn’t very happy with conversations about things regarding Sebastian’s hallucinations. Maybe he could just wait until a better time, until he knew more, when he learned exactly what those visions and images meant.

Still, instinct won out over logic.

“Have you killed anyone over these projects? Or has anyone died over it?”

He felt regret as Ruvik grew tense against him. Those cold eyes looked up at him, and Sebastian wanted to get away immediately. But Ruvik remains calm against him, not his normal outbursts of aggression and annoyance at Sebastian’s often times ridiculous questions. “What do you mean? Why would anyone have died over simple research?”

“Well, I just…”

“Sebastian, listen to yourself.” Ruvik sat up straight, setting his notes aside and turning to look at his lover in the eyes. “You’re asking me if I killed anyone, or had anyone killed. How is this a fair question? Why would you ever think that I did one of those things?”

“I don’t know, Ruvik, I was-”

“Sebastian I hope you would apologize for such an accusation.”

This was getting to be too much for Sebastian. His head was beginning to ache, and he needed to step away for just a moment. Standing up, he walked out of the room, rubbing his head. It wasn’t the smartest choice to just walk away from Ruben, but that moment he felt like he didn’t have much of a choice.

He was walking down the halls, and Ruvik had gotten up and followed him. He needed to change the conversation, throw Ruvik off. He couldn’t be dealing with something like this right now. Ruvik was calling for him, walking quick and grabbing Sebastian’s arm as soon as he caught up. The moment Sebastian turned to look at Ruvik, he looked over the man he called his boyfriend, admiring his handsome appearance, and knew exactly what to say.

“Are you angry with me over this?” Ruvik said. “You just accused me of murder, Seb. What are you angry for?”

“I’m not angry,” Sebastian said. His voice was calm, and he was thinking now only of Ruvik, standing there and looking so handsome. Even when he was angry he was attractive. What was Ruvik mad about again? Sebastian remembered asking about if he killed anyone. Why had he done that? It was something to do with a hallucination, a vision of something, but he couldn’t quite remember what it was.

“Sebastian, are you okay? You look like you could use rest.” Ruvik crossed his arms over his chest. “Is something on your mind?”

He didn’t hesitate as he pulled Ruvik close and kissed the man’s thin mouth. Ruvik’s eyes grew wide, hands moving up and gripping Sebastian’s shirt as they were close for a moment. When Sebastian broke the kiss and pulled back, Ruvik was trying to think of what to say. Kissing during arguments was something he had never even imagined to be a possibility.

“I…” Sebastian sighed. “I love you, Ruben Victoriano.”

He rarely used Ruvik’s full name. Ruvik preferred the nickname he went by, it became something he was used to after being called it for so long. But he knew that calling the man by his name was something reserved for special moments. And this was definitely a special moment.

Ruvik stood there, staring at Sebastian with shock for quite some time. Sebastian wasn’t sure what kind of response he was going to get, but this one made his heart sink a bit. “You… l… love…” Ruvik’s face began to turn red, and instead of saying anything more, he turned and walked away quickly, head ducking down, leaving Sebastian alone in the hallway.

It was so stupid to think that he could just say that to Ruvik in the middle of an argument. Sebastian had always been bad at timing, but this one was especially bad. Was he really that upset with him that he would leave the area, possibly think it over, then come back to yell? They had been affectionate, but Sebastian declaring love was something that neither of them, standing there, had really expected.

But seeing him standing there…

Sebastian knew he wanted to spend his life with that man.

**He was worried about how Ruvik felt back.**


	7. A Trail of Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter feels a little bit shorter to me than the rest of the chapters, but I don't mind that. How do you people feel about Joseph being the hero of a RuSeb story? Ehh? EEHHH? It's a little weird. I actually didn't mean for it to come off that way, that Joseph was the one who would kind of save the day. But hey it ended up happening, and I'm actually really liking it that way.
> 
> So yeah, another Joseph chapter. Team Oda-Kicks-Ru's-Ass is on the way.

“I think I might have found something.”

Joseph went to Juli’s desk, setting down some papers and sitting beside her. Juli had been hard at work looking at various connections Ruvik had with people in the town or the surrounding areas. Many of the potential trails had led to nowhere for her, and it was obviously wearing down on her. Joseph had been looking through Ruvik’s banking, once they had gained full access to it. It seemed that just before Ruvik had disappeared he did a rather large transfer of his money to somewhere that Joseph could not trace. The banks themselves seemed to be confused by it. Ruvik probably had some shady methods they didn’t know about. Or at least, nothing they were willing to share.

But looking through his records, a few patterns had appeared that Joseph was now alert to. There was funding to Beacon Mental Hospital for many years that had cut off not long before the murders. That was something that Joseph felt confident had to do with why Ruvik may have killed those doctors. As he was looking through, he noticed another hospital was getting funding. The amount was very insignificant compared to the funding for Beacon. This hospital was in a neighboring city, and it was a sort of sister hospital to Beacon.

He relayed this information to Juli that afternoon, explaining that the wanted killer and their missing person might be somewhere in that area. “It would make sense for Ruvik to hide near there. If he’s still funding that place, then he would want to stay near it as a back up to Beacon to keep working on… whatever it is he’s doing.”

Juli nodded a bit, looking at the papers. Her grip was strangely tight on those papers, lips in a thin line, and she was tense in a way Joseph had never seen her before. But that wasn’t the time to wonder why that was. This was about getting his best friend back, not worrying if Juli was doing okay or not. He would address her own issues later. “Do you think we can find them? Is there possibly a map of this area that we could take a look at?” she asked.

Joseph nodded a bit. “I can go and get one from the archives,” he said. Joseph didn’t wait for Juli’s response, he just got up and went to one of their archive rooms with hopes of finding a good enough map.

He was excited to figure this out with Juli. There had been so many walls up, preventing them from finding good answers. Perhaps there was something there for them to look at. There had to be something. The images of Sebastian in pain, waiting for slaughter, that’s all Joseph could imagine as he began to look through their maps for the right one. What if he was in danger? Ruvik surely wouldn’t hurt him, but… He couldn’t tell.

The maps were musty smelling, causing Joseph’s nose to wrinkle and he turned his head away, still looking carefully until he found exactly what he was looking for. It was a detailed map of the neighboring city and all the little towns around it. Towns were too big of a description - many of them were villages, old and static and stuck in their old heritage. Modernization hadn’t hit many of those places, and it was a little disappointing to see people so content with so little, sitting in small wooden houses in poverty and not knowing that there was more than that just outside their walls.

Juli was waiting patiently and looking through the bank statements when Joseph returned. She was looking at any of the sections that Joseph had starred - many of them seemed to connect to the area, but he wasn’t quite sure as of yet where they could have been. “I’ve got it.”

They sat close together, shoulder to shoulder, looking at the map. “So the hospital is here,” Joseph muttered. He circled it on the map of the city, and then began to look at the outskirts of the city and at the small villages all around it. “There’s no way Ruvik would want to set up shop in the middle of the city. We have connections there, he would be found in a snap if he were to have done that. Plus he needs a good place to isolate himself and Seb.”

“Yeah,” Juli was fairly quiet, staring down at the map. Her bright eyes seemed to be focussed on a section of the city, unmoving from them for a bit. She eventually seemed to realize that Joseph was noticing, and she looked away, her eyes never settling on those buildings again. Joseph chose to look at the small villages and their basic layout on his side of the map, brow furrowing.

“Any of these places could easily be where they’re hiding,” he said. “What do you think? There are so many places, it would take forever to check them all.”

“We need to look around them and find hints,” Juli replied. “We need to talk to locals, see if the have any answers. We don’t have to do this alone, we can ask the police department there to help us. We can get a few of our own to join us and look.”

Something Joseph hated about the Krimson City police department was how they were in politician's pockets and anyone who was willing to pay them off. Thankfully Sebastian’s team wasn’t like that, but something in his chest told him they needed to do this on their own. “Let them continue to look here for him,” he said. “I don’t really want those guys trying to help. If they find Ruvik, who’s to say they won’t leave him alone if he bribes them with enough cash?”

“True,” Juli hummed, looking at a few places on the map. “Well some of these are in pretty secluded areas. Forests, cliffs, the bluffs, and even a few more swampish areas. We can look into those first. Want to try that?”

Joseph didn’t waste time in circling a few of the places she was pointing out to him, circling a few on his side of the map as well that matched those land descriptions. “Anywhere that would be good to hide and to keep someone secret. That’s where we look first.” He sighed. “We can maybe mention this in passing to the police department there. If anything, they can look around the city and see if there’s anything there that might point to Ruvik or Sebastian.”

“Did they get your missing poster stuff?”

“Yeah. They did put that stuff up there, and it was in the newspaper, which is sent out in that area. Hopefully someone saw it who knows where Sebastian is.”

He bit the inside of his cheek in thought. He hadn’t gotten any calls from any of the cities he had shipped them out to. No answers about Sebastian and his whereabouts from any locations he could have been. If this place was truly the answer, he hoped they could get the easy way out and be able to to find Sebastian and arrest Ruvik with little struggle in searching.

“Joseph, are you holding up okay?” Juli’s voice brought him to reality, and he looked over at her. There was something of worry in her eyes. “You’ve just been really messed up about this. Do you need to maybe take a break? I can take over your half for a few days.”

“No, I…” Joseph sighed and rubbed his face. He was sleeping and eating less. Sebastian and him were close, it was strange not to see Sebastian in the office, not get a quick call and grabbing a drink with him, not going out anywhere or doing anything. Knowing that Sebastian could be hurt, could be in pain… It was almost terrifying to him. “I want to find him as fast as possible, and one person can’t do that in the speed that I want it done. You don’t need to have that much on your plate, too.”

Juli nodded and stood. “I’ll get some places booked for us to stay while we’re going through those areas okay? Just… try to get some rest beforehand?” Her hand rested on Joseph’s shoulder, squeezing a bit in comfort as she walked away.

Joseph sat there, rubbing his forehead and sighing gently. This was so messed up.

But there was one thing he knew for sure.

If he saw Ruvik again…

**There would be hell to pay.**


	8. A Moment of Silence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaaaaayyyyy another very short chapter!
> 
> But don't worry!
> 
> This one...
> 
> Is completely fluffy

Sebastian felt somewhat neglected.

Ruvik had been avoiding him as much as possible since the day that Sebastian had declared his love for him. They rarely spoke, rarely ate together anymore, and Sebastian was getting restless being alone in the manor and hoping that Ruvik would come up from his projects to spend time with him. It had been happening for a good three or four days, and Sebastian was getting tired of it. He stood outside Ruvik’s main office, leaning against the door with his arms crossed over his chest. Ruvik had gone to shower and change before he was going to head to do some of his paperwork, and Sebastian had plans to end the awkwardness and actually try to speak to Ruvik about the rather obvious elephant in the room.

He could tell this was a big deal by the way Ruvik appeared in the hallway and slowed down as he saw Sebastian standing there. Ruvik looked cautious, trying to stay blank and aloof, but Sebastian could see the worry in his eyes, the hesitancy in his walk. When Ruvik got close enough, he stood on the opposite side of the hallway and looked Sebastian over.

“Can you please move? I’m trying to get some things done.”

Sebastian stood up straight, but did not step aside for Ruvik. “I have some things I’m trying to get done, too,” he said, raising a brow when Ruvik wouldn’t meet his gaze. “I wanted to talk to you about -”

“I know what you want to talk to be about.”

“Then let’s talk about it.”

The air between them was tense, and Ruvik looked insecure about the conversation, which was something Sebastian had never seen before. The man seemed to be thinking about whether or not he would humor Sebastian in a conversation, but eventually hung his head and let out a sigh. “Fine, let’s talk.”

“Okay, but can we go for a walk as we do?” Sebastian asked. His restlessness was really strong. He wanted to go out, explore, enjoy himself out in nature, and be able to talk to Ruben in a nice, peaceful setting. “I think it would be good for us to get some fresh air when we’re talking. Don’t you?”

Ruvik shrugged a little, crossing his arms over his chest, and he sighed softly. Then he nodded a little, submitting to Sebastian’s request, and soon they were outside and walking down one of the paths.

Things were far more crisp, the leaves changing, and everything was so beautiful. It wasn’t anything like Sebastian had seen in the cities. Sure there were parks, and they were beautiful. But they were right out in nature, and seeing pure life growing bright and beautiful before the coming winter was a wonderful thing to him. It made him feel at ease.

Ruben didn’t seem very relaxed compared to him. He was glancing around, arms crossed over his chest, and he didn’t seem to be sure if he wanted to walk close by Sebastian or to walk as far away from Sebastian was possible. Still, having Sebastian as his company seemed to be an okay thing to him. And now it was time to address the problem.

“So, not that I need to remind you of what the problem is,” Sebastian began, “But there’s a pretty obvious issue that we need to talk about. The other day, we were arguing, and I told you that I loved you.” Sebastian felt stupid for saying that aloud, but he felt that he had to. “And you just kind of… walked away and began to avoid me. And I wanted to talk to you about that. But first I’m going to apologize for the accusations I said the other day, and also apologize for choosing such a poor time to tell you my feelings.”

The only sound now was the crunching of their feet on fallen leaves and twigs. Ruvik remained silent, and Sebastian was quiet for a moment, waiting and wondering if Ruvik would give him a response of some kind. When it seemed that Ruvik wasn’t going to speak to him any time soon, Sebastian continued. “But I don’t want to take back those words,” he said. “I mean them. I really do believe that what I feel for you is love, Ruben.”

“Ruvik.”

Sebastian sighed, shaking his head. “I just… want to know what you think about all of this. You don’t have to have an answer, but I would prefer for you to tell me that instead of avoiding me every second of the day.”

Their walking slowed as Ruvik turned to look at him, eyes looking over Sebastian’s face as he was in thought. It seemed he wasn’t sure how to answer. Whether he was going to say a soft rejection, something in the middle, or even respond to Sebastian’s words of love were completely hard to tell. Even when the man let emotion through his features, they were always so strange and hard to understand unless he explicitly said them.

“... Sebastian…” Ruvik sighed a little and shook his head, eventually just shrugging as he leaned back against a tree. “I don’t know… I want to just say no and be angry with you and avoid this, but you care so much about it… I just…” He closed his eyes. “We’re in a relationship, both romantic and sexual. We live together and we spend a pretty normal life together… But we’ve never really said those words and… And I…” He hung his head. “I never thought about it. Yet here you go, saying it to me, and during an argument.”

“It wasn’t really the best place to say that,” Sebastian said, smiling a little when Ruvik nodded. “I’m sorry for being an idiot with my timing. I’ve always been pretty bad at that.”

“Yes, you have…” Ruvik stood up more, looking at Sebastian and then sighing again. “... I think that…” He shrugged. “I think that I love you too. I know I definitely have feelings for you, that much I am confident in. I do feel like what I’m feeling might just be love, but… give me some time.”

Sebastian grinned at Ruvik’s words. Sure, he wasn’t really saying the reply of love in confidence, but hearing that Ruvik felt that way at all caused him to do something… maybe a little irrational, but that’s what love was.

He picked Ruvik up around the waist, grinning and pulling him into a kiss. Ruvik had begun to let out a shout of protest as he was lifted off the ground, but he melted into the kiss, hands sliding up to Sebastian’s hair as the man held him  by the waist for a bit. They were in a passion, a frenzy of lips and tongue and teeth and warmth. When the kiss broke, Ruvik looked dazed and stunned, Sebastian laughing and smiling.

“You look cute like that you know.”

**“Sh… Shut up, Castellanos…”**


End file.
